Page 16 of A Summer of New Beginnings
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On Monday evening, Marco called a meeting of the besties and Zara arrived twenty minutes late. She dashed in and sat at the usual table where she was greeted by knowing grins from Shelley and Marco.
‘I’m so sorry I’m late, guys. I was just about to leave work when this huge bouquet arrived. Look at the size of the thing.’ She held out the fragrant and oversized bunch of roses.
‘Let me guess– Noah’s feeling guilty and these are an apology?’ Marco winked at Shelley.
‘Oh, yeah, he’s feelingsoguilty he’s talking about me doing more of these horrible camping trips. He’s got absolutely no chance. No, of course, my lovely flowers are from Josh.’ She beamed as she placed them on the spare seat.
‘Has he bloody proposed or something, Bailey?’ Shelley asked, arms folded across her amplebosom.
Zara felt heat flush her cheeks and she couldn’t help smiling. She shrugged. ‘No, nothing like that. Not just yet. But it certainly feels like something big.’
Marco clapped his hands together excitedly. ‘I knew it! He told you he loves you finally, didn’t he?’
Zara paused and wondered whether to mention the small matter of Josh’s surprise admission. But these were her best friends sohow could she not?
She inhaled deeply and summoned up the courage. ‘Not exactly that either, Marco.’
‘So what’s with the cheesy grin and the flowers? He either cooks like bloody Jamie Oliver or the food was crap and the flowers are an apology for almost poisoning you. So which is it?’
‘We didn’t exactly eat much.’ She tucked her hair behind her ears and chewed on her lip. ‘There’s one smallnew bit of information though.’ She held her breath and waited for the assumptions to fly. And fly they did.
Marco’s eyes lit up. ‘He’s bi?’
Zara scoffed. ‘No!’
Shelley placed a hand on each of her own cheeks. ‘Oh, my God, he’s married.’
Zara rolled her eyes. ‘No, he’s not married. But… it’s almost as complicated as that.’
‘Divorced? Gay? Come on, Zee, just spill it.’ Marco was leaning forwardso much Zara expected him to fall from his seat and bash his chin on the table.
‘No… he… erm… he has a ten-year-old son.’
Marco’s gasp was almost theatrical. ‘What?’
Shelley’s eyes almost popped out of her head. ‘Bloody hell! How old was he when it was born?Twelve?’
‘He was seventeen. It’s a heartbreaking story. To put it bluntly the girl’s dad whisked her off to Australia and the baby wasborn there. Josh has never met him. But…’
Marco and Shelley glanced worriedly at one another. ‘But he’s going out to visit soon?’
Zara cringed. ‘Not quite. The mother, Katie, is bringing the boy, Caleb, here. To England.’
Shelley’s expression changed to one of sadness. ‘Oh, no. When?’
‘Next week. But don’t be like that. It’s not a big deal. I’m fine with it. I’m looking forward to meetingCaleb. Josh says he doesn’t want to lose me so I’m not going to start getting worked up about something that’s out of my control.’
Marco reached out and took her hand. ‘But you really love him, sweetie. I’m worried for you.’
Zara shrugged off the comments and her friends’ worried gazes that were now fixed on her. ‘Come on, you two. Good grief. It’ll all be fine. I’m telling you, he really caresabout me. He said so. We really care for each other and we want this tobesomething. Neither of us is going to do anything to spoil that.’
‘But this is his child, Zara.’ Shelley only used her full name when she was being extremely serious. ‘That’s something you can’t just shrug off asno big deal. I think you should maybe back off a little until they’ve gone back to Aus.’
Zara was pissed offat her friends’ apparent lack of support. ‘Back off? Why should I back off? We’ve been together a year. It’s not like we’ve only just met and I can just dump him, Shelley. I love the man, warts and all.’
Marco sighed. ‘You just likened his son to a wart, Zara Bear. I hardly think that’s a good start, honey. And why has he only told you about this now if he’s known all this time?’
